


Helping Hand

by clarkjoekent



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Good Dad Iruka, Just Add Kittens, Kakashi is the awkward uncle, Naruto is a BABY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25758601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarkjoekent/pseuds/clarkjoekent
Summary: Kakashi stumbles upon 6 year old Naruto in need of help. The small action spirals into Kakashi wanting to do something more to help the kid.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 170





	Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Another Kakashi helps baby Naruto fic. There's never enough. Also I realized I don't write a lot of Iruka? So he's in here too.

"Uh what are you doing?" Kakashi put his book away and watched his sensei's child try to climb the second tallest tree in Konoha.

"There's a cat." Naruto's face was red as he pointed up towards the branches. Kakashi moved closer to the kid and looked up. A kitten was a better word for the small cat clinging for dear life several branches up.

"How long have you been trying to get the kitten?" Kakashi could only guess from the scratch marks on the blonde's arms and the blood on the tree bark, that he's been here a while.

"An hour. I can't get past the first branch." Naruto frowned. He was tiny, 6 years old, and yet he had more energy than Kakashi had at that age. He was also a chunin and knew how to climb a tree using chakra. They probably haven't even touched that yet at the Academy. Kakashi sighed at remembering his childhood and decided to help the kid.

"I'll get it." Kakashi grabbed the lowest branch and pulled himself up, The kitten wasn't too high, just a few branches up. The poor thing was shaking, barely had its eyes open. So small and sweet. Kakashi would die if his pack found out he almost cooed at a cat. He scooped the kitten up and then dropped to the ground next to Naruto.

He knelt down to show the blonde the kitten was fine. Well, not stuck in a tree at least.

"Is she sick?" Naruto gently touched the kitten's head and when the animal didn't open its eyes the kid started crying.

"I don't know how long the kitten has been up in the tree, maybe we should give her to the Inuzuka clan. They have a vet clinic." Kakashi can feel the little kitten's rapid heartbeat in the palm of his hand.

"I don't want to give her up!" Naruto glared at Kakashi. The Copy Nin couldn't get the image of Kushina out of his head.

"I didn't mean permanently. Just a check up." Kakashi stood up. He did mean to just pass the kitten to Tsume but now he had a crying kid on his hands.

"I'm going with you. I don't trust you." Naruto scrunched his face up, his tears finally stopped. Now his eyes are full of anger.

"Maa, okay okay." Kakashi sucked up his feelings about the kitten and started walking towards the Inuzuka Vet clinic. Naruto's little footsteps fell in line eventually, his sight never leaving the kitten.

The clinic wasn't too busy, but they had to wait a few minutes for a room to open up. Kakashi chose a seat in the corner of the waiting room, Naruto following him like his own shadow.

"What's your name?" Naruto's legs swung from the chair, his curiosity getting the better of him. It was hard to stare into those blue eyes and lie.

"Kakashi."

"I know of a Kakashi. Shikamaru talks about a Kakashi. Are you him?" Naruto smiled, the Copy Nin was now worried about his reputation, what does Shikaku's kid know? What did Shikaku tell him?

"I don't know."

"Your eye is covered so I think you are."

"I guess I am." Kakashi wasn't good with kids, but he wasn't going to be mean to Naruto.

"Hmm. Interesting." Naruto sat back in his seat. Kakashi didn't need the byakugan to see Naruto boring holes into the back of his head.

Before Naruto could ask another question Tsume barked at them to see her.

"Well, well, well, Kakashi brought another animal for me. What is it this time? A rabbit?" Tsume chuckled, teasing the Hatake and ignoring the blonde by his side.

"A kitten, we found her in a tree." Kakashi placed the poor baby onto the cold steel table.

"Hm." Tsume went through the whole check up process, Naruto dragged one of the chairs in the room to the table and stood on it. He wanted to see everything. "She's emaciated but not past the point of no return. She's fairly young." Tsume picked the kitten up and showed Kakashi some scratch marks. "She was carried off by a bird."

"That's how she got up into the tree!" Naruto smiled like he cracked the biggest mystery. Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle, the kid was smart.

"Yup. She just needs to be fed every two hours and kept warm."

Kakashi's heart stopped. No way a 6 year old will be able to take care of a kitten. There was also no way he could leave the kitten here for someone to adopt, thanks to Naruto's watery blue eyes. He was stuck.

Tsume left the room to get the formula for the kitten and Kakashi had to break the news. "Naruto."

"I think I can feed her every two hours. Maybe Iruka-sensei will let me take her with me to class." The blonde wasn't looking up at Kakashi, he knew what the Copy Nin was going to say.

"Naruto."

"I'm not leaving her here." Naruto jumped off the chair and put it back. His face was red and he was crying again.

Kakashi closed his eyes and berated his sensei and Kushina for putting him in this situation as he gave in. "Look, you can't bring her to school and focus on your studies. I'll take her."

Naruto whipped around, his tear filled smile broke Kakashi's heart. The blonde hugged Kakashi's leg and didn't let go until Tsume pushed them out of the clinic.

He had a heating pad and blankets at home when Pakkun catches a cold, it should work with a three day old kitten. He has also nursed puppies when he was a teenager to help the Inuzuka clan so he's prepared for sleepless nights. Not like he ever got sleep to begin with.

"Can I visit her?" Naruto followed Kakashi to his apartment and inside. The blonde wandered around the small apartment, making sure the man in question was a good guy.

"She needs a name." Kakashi dug around his dog bin for the heating pad, grabbing a small fleece blanket in the process. The kitten was warm, now she needed food.

"Maki." Naruto smiled and watched Kakashi feed the kitten. She was hungry, thankfully she took to the bottle.

"Cute. You can visit her but only after school. I don't want to see you before it lets out." Kakashi knew Naruto was notorious for skipping school and playing pranks. Maybe the cat can be an incentive.

Naruto thought about his options and nodded. "I promise."

The rest of the day, Naruto held the blanket bundle in his hands. Kakashi had taken care of Naruto's arms, he healed quickly, thanks to the Nine Tails chakra. While being bandaged he told Kakashi about his apartment and his classes. He was a smart kid, he just needed to do his work.

"Shikamaru and Choji are my best friends. I wanna be friends with Sasuke but he's too uptight and refuses to talk to me. A lot of people refuse to talk to me." Naruto got really quiet, Kakashi watched a myriad of emotions play on the kid's face. "You were the first person to actually help me. I saw people laugh when I fell."

The Copy Nin felt something in his stomach, a rage he hasn't felt since his father died. For people to just watch a child struggle for something that he didn't even know about and wasn't his fault, sickened him. They can't separate the demon from the child. 

"It's part of the shinobi code to help those in need."

"Yeah but, they were shinobi too." Naruto just looked tired. Too tired for a child his age. Kakashi saw himself in the blonde.

"Not all of them follow the code." Kakashi stood up from his seat and sat next to Naruto. Almost immediately the kid leaned against him. The Copy Nin placed an arm around him and let him know that he'll always have him.

"I'm hungry." Naruto sniffled and looked up at Kakashi.

After Kakashi summoned his dogs and told them to watch the kitten he took Naruto out for ramen.

* * *

After Kakashi was sure Naruto was at school he broke into the kid's apartment, which wasn't hard and that scared Kakashi more than anything. Naruto lived in squalor. The Third Hokage had to know this was happening. Disgusted, he decided to do some cleaning. Throwing out things that were past their expiration date, things that are broken, making a note to replace them if they looked important.

He had to take a break to go back and feed Maki. When he was finished cleaning, he had 10 bags of trash. He had wiped down all the surfaces and did all the laundry. With his clones it took about 4 hours.

After disposing of the trash Kakashi took the kitten and placed her into a sling, before running off to do the next thing on his list.

"Why the hell is he living by himself?" Kakashi didn't bother announcing himself, the Nara knew who was walking into his house with little effort. Thanks to Shikaku being Sakumo's student, the man never stopped being in constant contact with Kakashi. In fact, because of Shikaku, Kakashi was able to quit ANBU and become a Tokubetsu Jonin instead. Not to say his mental health has recovered completely but he's better than he was in ANBU. He came to Shikaku whenever he needed help or to cool off. Or when he needed information on Naruto.

"Who?" Shikaku didn't even look up from his paperwork.

"Naruto."

"He's had caretakers, but they all quit after a week. Hiruzen got a hair up his ass about it and decided Naruto could live on his own because you did."

"I'm not a good base for anyone, I was forced to live the way I did or starve."

Shikaku glanced up at the Copy Nin and then to the sling. "You have a kid?"

"Kitten. Naruto was trying to get her down from a tree for an hour. I helped him and now I'm taking care of her. Or he'll cry." Kakashi sat down on the chair across from the Nara, who was busy laughing.

"A dog man taking care of a kitten. What does the pack think?"

"Pakkun says I'm not to be trusted. I'm sure he was just joking. I make them watch Maki while I'm out."

It made the Nara laugh harder. "You are one of a kind."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, trying to get back to the matter at hand. "Do you know how much Naruto gets?"

Shikaku leaned back and sighed. "Not nearly enough. Shikamaru came home one day telling me Naruto's shoes were taped together. I bought him a pair and threw his old ones out. He thought the tooth fairy did it."

"What happened to all the money Minato-sensei and Kushina left behind?"

"Rent is rising, food costs are through the roof. It looked like a lot in theory but to cover the caretakers, food, rent, water, and power, it's not nearly enough. I also don't think Kushina or Lord Fourth thought they'd leave a child behind so they weren't as prepared. Which in my opinion is disgusting that we don't have a plan laid out. You can thank Danzo for that one."

Kakashi knew about the programs Shikaku had tried to push, only because when Shikaku was pissed off about how the meetings went, due to Danzo shooting them down, he'd stop off at Kakashi's and they'd play shogi or spar.

"There has to be a way to take care of him better." Kakashi absentmindedly pet the kitten strapped to his chest, thinking about giving half his salary to the kid.

"Adoption." Shikaku shrugged. "Yoshino and I have thought about it, but Shikamaru is too much for us to balance while going out on missions, let alone adding Naruto's seal in play. Mikoto wanted to adopt him but the Uchiha clan and Hiruzen are at odds and the old man wouldn't allow it."

"That seems a little ridiculous. If the seal busts the sharingan can stop the Nine Tails."

"Which you have."

"I only have one Shikaku."

Shikaku sighed and crossed his arms, his hazel eyes staring into Kakashi's soul. "I know you aren't ready to take care of a kid. However, you won't be alone. You have us, and you have Mikoto."

Kakashi left the Nara clan compound defeated. He knew taking care of Naruto by himself was going to be rough. Between missions and responsibilities. The Copy Nin stopped walking and looked up at Naruto's apartment. The kid had 2 bedrooms. Maybe he can move in and watch him. Shikaku could babysit.

His thoughts were interrupted by a shriek.

"MAKI!" The blonde was hurling at him at breakneck speed, causing Kakashi to shield the orange ball of excitement from crushing her as he crashed into the older man.

"Naruto, easy." Another voice sounded off behind the kid. Iruka Umino.

"Iruka."

"Kakashi. Naruto tells me you have a kitten. I never would've seen that one coming." Iruka laughed. It seemed to be a popular theory that Kakashi hated cats, where everyone got that idea from was beyond him.

"Iruka-sensei was walking me home, I wanted to stop by your house but he told me to go home and do my homework." Naruto turned and stuck his tongue out at the teacher.

"He's behind." Iruka rolled his eyes, still never losing his smile.

"How about this, if you do your homework I'll let you feed Maki." Kakashi patted Naruto on his head, his big blue eyes lit up.

"Promise?"

"Yeah kid." Kakashi watched Naruto bolt up to his apartment, wanting to get his homework finished fast. "It's not going to be his best work but I promise it'll get done."

Iruka laughed again, "His test scores are great so if he turns things in it's better than nothing."

"Good." Kakashi nodded.

"Hey! Someone broke into my house!" Naruto scrambled back outside, worry written on his face. Before Kakashi could say anything Iruka ran into the apartment.

"Nothing looks stolen?"

"All my trash." Naruto pouted.

Kakashi followed Naruto and Iruka into the house, hiding his laughter over the blonde being upset about his missing trash. "I clean up a little. Maki can't roam around in a messy apartment Naruto."

"Oh." Naruto looked around and then smiled. "Thank you 'Kashi!"

"How many bags did you get?" Iruka whispered to Kakashi once Naruto was gone.

"Ten. You?"

"Seven. I wasn't deep cleaning. I just wanted to see the floor." Iruka huffed. "His caretakers didn't do anything for him. They didn't even teach him how to read. I had to teach him after I found out."

Kakashi glanced over at Naruto who was furiously writing in his journal. He hated hearing about how the village failed Naruto. Really he failed him too. He could've visited him and watched him. He could've seen what happened and stood in the way. But he let Minato-sensei and Kushina down. He hated himself.

"I blame myself, I should've seen it." Iruka shook his head, surprising Kakashi with his confession.

"You didn't know."

"Adults bully him, Lord Third ignores him, and his classmates hate him. I have to admit I did too. Until I saw him for the child he was and not the demon that killed my parents."

"I'm just as much at fault." Kakashi sighed. He was so wrapped up in who Naruto was related to he didn't see him suffering.

"I was thinking about adopting him." Iruka dropped another confession and Kakashi's heart stopped for the second time in two days. "I have the forms. I just need to give them to The Third Hokage."

Iruka would have more free time available to take care of him. He was perpetually stuck teaching at the academy, so Hiruzen will most likely approve Iruka over him.

"You should." Kakashi swallowed his feelings and told Iruka the truth.

"Really? You think?" Iruka smiled at Naruto and then at Kakashi.

"You'd be great. He told me all about how you've been helping him." Kakashi felt the kitten start to move in the sling. Feeding time. He got the prepared bottle out and warmed it with his chakra. The kitten poked her head out and found the bottle immediately. "If you need any help or anything, I'm here. I know Mikoto will help and so will Shikaku."

"I finished. Give me the kitty." Naruto jumped from his table and ran up to the freshly fed kitten.

"Be careful." Kakashi handed Maki over and Naruto held her like she was his whole world.

"I'm allergic to cats." Iruka snorted.

"I guess I can keep her and he can visit." Kakashi knows the pack will warm up to the kitten and Naruto loves her too much for him to give her away.

"Adorable. Uncle Kakashi."

"Laugh while you still can, Umino."

* * *

It broke Kakashi’s heart to hear that Iruka was taking in Naruto but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he wasn't going to be the same father figure Iruka can be. He might be out of ANBU but he can't take care of himself still. Let alone a 6 year old.

He sulked for a day and then decided that it was for the better. There were a few weeks where Naruto would go to Iruka's and then to Kakashi's, both men sharing Naruto, protecting him. Kakashi let Naruto hold Maki while he taught the kid how to clean or make simple food without the stove.

Two months into the trade off, Iruka had stopped Kakashi on his weekly trip to the Nara compound to tell him that Hiruzen approved the adoption. Naruto was going to move in with him.

"He can come over anytime to see Maki." Kakashi smiled, the kitten now sat on his shoulder, she loved smelling the food at the market.

Iruka shifted a bit like he was trying to work on his phrasing. Kakashi was worried Iruka was going to tell him to stay away.

"He wants to see you."

Kakashi stood still trying to process what Iruka told him. "What?"

"You helped him when no one else did. It left a mark on his heart."

The Copy Nin smiled. "He helped me too."

"An hour after school everyday, when you aren't on a mission."

"Deal." Kakashi felt the kitten's tail move, hitting the back of his neck gently. "Maki and I would love to have him over."

Iruka nodded and left Kakashi to his walk. He let himself pet Maki, her eyes were just like Naruto, bright blue and huge. He walked into the Nara house and said his usual hellos to Yoshino and Shikamaru. Shikaku was already in his spot, setting the shogi game up.

"So Iruka got him." Shikaku placed a shogi piece down, taking one of Kakashi's out of play. The younger man cursed and rethought his strategy.

"Yeah. I didn't have the heart to fight. Naruto was happy with Iruka. Who am I to stop him." Kakashi took the kitten out of her sling, to wander around the patio the Nara and Kakashi were playing shogi on.

She purred and wandered around Kakashi before setting her sights on Shikaku. She managed to climb into his lap, staking her claim. Her fur was filling out, white tufts sticking up every which way. Shikaku let her walk all over him and Kakashi couldn't help the laugh that escaped.

"That's a sign of growth you know. I doubt Iruka will stop you from seeing him." Shikaku moved another piece while scratching Maki's head. She batted at his thumb and tried to bite him.

"An hour a day, which is nice. I think when he gets older I can help train him. He has a bad grasp on chakra, which isn't his fault." Kakashi took Shikaku's piece off the board.

"You know it's illegal to tell him."

"Who said I was going to tell him?" Kakashi had found a scroll about the tailed beasts. All he has to do is leave it out in the open. Technically he won't be breaking the law. Shikaku looked at Kakashi, reading him like a book.

"Kushina rubbed off on you." Maki batted Shikaku again, earning his full and undivided attention.

"Thank you." Kakashi watched Maki and Shikaku play, feeling proud. 


End file.
